It's not true that Luke Cothron fell off the map when he didn't make it into Auburn academically last fall. But you might need a map and a compass to trace his travels since.

The power forward who was supposed to be the crown jewel of Tony Barbee's first signing class with the Tigers has become more of a hidden gem. He's made brief stops at two different colleges in the interim, and his next planned destination is Twin Falls, Idaho.

That's the home of the College of Southern Idaho, the Kentucky of junior college basketball.

Steve Gosar, the head coach at Southern Idaho, confirmed Cothron's plans in a phone conversation Tuesday.

"We thought this might be a good situation for him," Gosar said. "We'll give him a chance to get his life back on track."

Gosar said that Cothron is supposed to arrive at the school in the next 10 days to start classes in March. He'll be able to work out with the basketball team immediately but won't be able to play until next fall, if he makes his grades.

"We'll make sure we address his academic needs and get him headed in the right direction there," Gosar said.

Cothron has gone in different directions since his plan to play college basketball at Auburn went astray.

The Huntsville native, who finished high school at Flora MacDonald Academy in North Carolina, wasn't just any recruit when he became Barbee's second Auburn signee last spring.

Rivals.com rated the 6-foot-8, 205-pounder as the No. 45 player overall and the No. 11 power forward in the class of 2010. Alabama and Kentucky were among the programs recruiting him.

After Cothron signed with Auburn, Barbee said he would give the Tigers "a different level of talent than this program has seen in some time."

Instead, Cothron didn't make it into school. His odyssey began. He considered going to Italy to play pro ball there, but that idea didn't work out.

Next, he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts. Derek Kellogg, the head coach there, had played alongside Barbee at UMass under John Calipari and coached with Barbee on Calipari's staff at Memphis. But Cothron got homesick, withdrew from UMass and returned to Huntsville.

Then came a unique opportunity, or so he thought, to play right away at the University of New Orleans. Because UNO was planning to drop from Division I to Division III next year, it appeared that he could enroll there, play the rest of this season and then transfer to play at a Division I school next season.

Cothron did play at New Orleans. One game. In a Dec. 14 loss to Tulane, he came off the bench and scored two points in six minutes.

That was the beginning and end of his UNO career. Officials there wouldn't comment Tuesday on Cothron, but he must've gotten bad advice in the first place because he was ruled ineligible.

UNO has been more than a little confused about its own future. Last week, the school announced, after further review, that it's submitting a proposal to the state Board of Supervisors to move to Division II.

Back to Cothron. He returned to Huntsville and picked up the phone.

Gosar, the Southern Idaho coach, said Cothron called his school because he had a good relationship with Southern Idaho assistant Josh Dees. Cothron asked if Southern Idaho had a spot available. It did. If all goes as planned, he'll head that way shortly to fill that spot.

Gosar said Cothron will have to complete three semesters there to be eligible to transfer to a Division I school.

"That all depends on Luke academically," Gosar said. "How much he's willing to work and how much he can handle. Hopefully, we can have the same success with him we've had with other kids."

One person close to Cothron said Alabama and Kentucky are among the schools interested in signing him if he makes his grades, but Baylor may be the leader at the moment in that battle.

What about Auburn? Could Cothron return to the Tigers? His friend gave a two-word prediction: No chance.